Editorial Department has signed his name or not,—and all this in oblivion at once of good faith and sound sense: conduct for the commission of which an English judge would treat the man as a rascal or as an idiot. THE following interesting account of the recent "Königsberg Trial" is given in The Laiv Journal (London) :, Besides the interest in all things affecting Russia at the moment, the trial just ended at Königsberg, in Germany, brings to memory the great trials five years ago of Zola and Dreyfus in France, and the brilliant defences therein by M. Labori. All three trials bear much similarity, the powerful political bias of the prosecution and the remarkable import ance and success oí the defence, redounding to the credit, power, and independence of the Bar. Nine accused persons belonging to the humbler classes lay under arrest for nine months on the following charges: First, with being concerned in a conspiracy or secret so ciety for purposes unknown to the authori ties. Secondly, that they being German subjects were guilty of acts against the Russian Empire and the Czar, which would have been accounted high treason if directed against a German State or prince, in that they did cir culate books and pamphlets inciting to mur der the Czar and overthrow the Russian Constitution. Thirdly, that they rendered themselves guilty of lèse-majesté against the person of the Emperor Nicholas II. by circu lation of such books and pamphlets. The trial a!l along was represented by the nonSocialist press, the Minister of Justice, and the German Chancellor as a determined at tempt to stamp out a nest of dangerous Anarchist and Nihilist conspirators, and so strike a severe blow at all Social democracy in Germany. The 200 pages in the indict ment, the numerous witnesses for the prose cution, the exaggerated statements oí Rus sian officials, and the harsh 'intimidations of the Presiding Judge and of the Public Pros ecutor, revealed nothing more pernicious or dangerous than that these nine accused per sons were a simple band of illiterate smug
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glers. Only on the count of conspiracy did the Court condemn six of the accused to terms of imprisonment from two weeks to three months, and the defence have already lodged an appeal in the High Court for re mission of these small sentences. A journal wittily compares the service rendered to the Russian Government by the German author ities with that of a tame bear which", in try ing to kill a fly on the forehead of its sleep ing master, inadvertently crushes his skull. The course of the trial (which lasted about a fortnight), the consistent hostility displayed by the presiding judge, the Bench, and the prosecution, towards the accused and their counsel, will be of interest to legal readers, and especially the singular tact, moderation of attitude, and marked ability of Herr Haase, the leading counsel for the defence, Socialist deputy for Königsberg to the Ger man Reichstag. Several interesting inci dents arose during the course of the trial. One of the contentions of the defence was that the seditious pamphlets found among the bales of Socialist writings at the homes of the accused were added to their contents after confiscation. This point, however, the defence was unable to bring home to the au thorities. The following, however, was very clearly brought home to the Russian Con sul at Königsberg. When the bundles of books and papers were, confiscated by the police, selections were sent to the Russian Consul to translate for the German authori ties. He was called by the defence, and pro tested when in the witness-box that he was a very busy man and that he had merely "hast ily glanced at the books after dinner." Cer tain passages of an incriminating nature was then read out to him which he himself had translated from the confiscated papers, and then he was requested to find these passages in the original text. Some of the quotations were found to be purely imaginary, and others were mutilated and distorted so as to represent the Russian official view oí revolu tionary doctrines. For example, when the original text arraigned the absolutism of monarchic government in Russia, the Con
